Voice of America journalistic standards and editorial decisions are discussed along with general media issues.

10 September 2008

Internet Freedom Facing New Threats

“There is no freedom without freedom of information. There is no freedom of information without Internet freedom.”

That saying comes from the website of the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, whose ambition is one we can only praise: helping those living in closed societies take down the Internet firewalls that separate them from the rest of the world.

The group was among those represented at VOA headquarters here in Washington DC today at a workshop organized by the Broadcasting Board of Governors on “New Media vs. New Censorship: The Authoritarian Assault on Information.”

China’s government is perhaps the best known and certainly the largest of the Internet censors. Its efforts to control access to the web are well known and received considerable publicity during the recent Olympics.

But the workshop heard that China is now exporting its censorship technology to countries like Iran and Cuba, two other governments who, along with Burma, are responsible for what the Consortium terms “the Dark Ages in cyberspace.”

There is more to fear, though. Today’s meeting also heard that China is working on a new kind of filter that will enable censors to do more sophisticated work than simply block a single page or site. The new filter will target specific content on the Internet. For example, any material that might describe the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in positive terms would remain open to readers in China. But any derogatory information about Mao would lead to that particular page or site being blocked.

It’s tough work, trying to stay ahead of the Internet censors. But VOA will keep working with its partners to thwart those who would suppress or manipulate information online.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

One (out of 3) of my blogs gets blocked by the Great Firewall. I have no idea why. Read somewhere that there's software(Tor??) to get around it. And Bill Gates says Internet Censorship is a myth. That Info can't be blocked. What does Bill know that I don't??? iMikeekimnnud@gmail.com

According to a BBC News report, Malaysia may also be getting in on the Great Firewall Internet filter act. One of the country's top bloggers, Raja Petra, was arrested on some very serious charges, and Jeff Ooi (an opposition MP and avid blogger) and other high-profile Malaysian bloggers may be next. Here's the link in case you haven't read the story:

The same BBG which warns us about Internet censorship decided to end all Voice of America radio broadcasts to Russia and told VOA Russian Service to pursue Internet-only strategy for program distribution.

FYI: VOA Russian radio programs were taken off the air just 12 days before the Russian army attacked Georgia. The BBG was also planning to end VOA radio programs to Georgia, Ukraine, and a number of other countries with on or limited media freedom.

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The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 125 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages. The VOA Media Watch, formerly called the VOA News Blog, discusses the editorial integrity and quality of VOA content and responds to inquiries, comments and complaints from the general public and others related to that content. The Media Watch thus serves as a public source of information, explanation and analysis regarding VOA's journalistic standards and practices. General media issues are also discussed.

Alex Belida is the chief writer for the VOA Media Watch. He has been in international broadcasting since 1971. He served as Managing Editor of VOA News from 2004 to 2007. Before that he was a correspondent in Europe and in Africa. He has also served as VOA’s Senior White House Correspondent and as Pentagon Correspondent. Before joining VOA, he worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in both New York and Munich. He has a BA from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and a MS in Journalism from Columbia University in New York. He is a recipient of the prestigious Alumni Achievement Award from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Director of VOA.